The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders

by John E. Sarno

For many years we were aware of a consistent connection between the perfectionist tendency and the development of TMS. Though some of our patients denied being perfectionists, they admitted to being hardworking, conscientious, responsible, driven, success-oriented, perpetual seekers of new challenges, sensitive to criticism, and their own severest critics. But it was a long time before I realized that the drive to be good could be equally enraging to the child-primitive. It is yet another pressure. Though both the perfect and the good tendencies are present in most patients I see, the good is often the predominant one. These people are aware that they have a great need to be liked and so find themselves looking for approval in everything they do and going out of their way to be helpful, often at the expense of their own comfort and convenience. If you speak to someone who is an inveterate caretaker, helper, do-gooder, you are impressed by the power of the compulsion that drives them. Typically, they avoid confrontation.